Tell Me Who I Am


Colossians 2:6-15
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

The hallmark of Colossians is its Christology. That’s just a big theological word that means something is centered completely on Christ. The truly worthy theologian finds Christ in every word of the Bible. Paul is a master at that teaching. With these verses of Colossians 2, we find the very definition of a Christ centered text. And yet somehow, we are the focus of the teaching. It’s brilliant.

Those who embrace Christ as their Savior are then defined by Him. The language becomes descriptive of that person as they are completely “rooted” in Christ. He who gives us the power to even stand is Christ. And then we are built up by Him. Everything that we become because of those roots is designed by Christ. The two images that come to mind are a vast tree that has an intricate root system or a well-designed building with strong foundation. But then we are warned against being “carried off” by our own ignorance. If we don’t take the time to know Christ well through the gift of His Word we are in danger of falling for false teaching. While this particular passage seems to slide by fairly smoothly, we cannot overstate the importance of knowing what you believe. There are scores of people who are carried off by the philosophies of this world all the time because they never pressed themselves to study the word with intentionality. They are content to believe what others tell them. This is a foolish but easily made error.

Whenever I run across this passage I am again challenged to keep my nose in the The Book. Frequently I come across people who say, “well, it says in the Bible . . . “ and then they spout off something that most certainly does not appear in the Bible. Those need to be careful conversations because often those erroneous beliefs are held onto most firmly and with great emotion. I confess that I used to be pretty hard on those kinds of comments but the Holy Spirit has tempered that approach and while I still might confront those ideas, I have learned a little gentleness (which is a fruit of the Spirit!)

Assuming you are a person who also keeps their mind and heart filled with the Word, read the passage again and see how God defines such people. It is a glowing description and an identity that is worth embracing.
  • you received Christ Jesus the Lord
  • so walk in him,
  • rooted and built up in him
  • established in the faith
  • abounding in thanksgiving
  • you have been filled in him
  • circumcised with a circumcision made without hands
  • by putting off the body of the flesh
  • having been buried with him in baptism
  • raised with him through faith
  • God made alive together with him
  • forgiven us all our trespasses
  • canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands
This is a powerful list of identifiers! Mull those over. Dwell on who you are because of Christ, the God Incarnate who came to buy you back from sin, death, and the devil. Your identity is magnificent because you belong to the Magnificent God.

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